UPDATE: Don't Be Alarmed, It Was Only A Norovirus

A day late and a dollar short, but here’s the latest e-mail sent to student, staff, and faculty.

I’ve heard that there is a proposal to POTENTIALLY reimburse students PARTIALLY for missed meals, via declining balance points.  But haven’t heard anything official, so don’t expect anything.  If I do hear anything OFFICIALLY, I will let you all know.

To the Marietta College community:

In the interest of keeping the campus community up to date on the recent outbreak of gastrointestinal illness, the Ohio Department of Health in Columbus has informed the Marietta City Health Department and the College that all of the samples forwarded for testing were found positive for Norovirus, which is a group of viruses that cause the “stomach flu” or gastroenteritis in people. In addition, independent tests conducted on food samples from the College’s Dining Services returned negative results for bacteria.

As a result, the Marietta City Health Department has determined that based upon these test results and extensive interviews that anyone who had similar symptoms with a similar onset most likely contracted Norovirus.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, the symptoms of Norovirus illness usually include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and some stomach cramping. Sometimes people additionally have a low-grade fever, chills, headache, muscle aches, and a general sense of tiredness.

The CDC says people become infected with Noroviruses in several ways, including:

• eating food or drinking liquids that are contaminated with norovirus (it would first be infected by a person with norovirus);
• touching surfaces or objects contaminated with norovirus, and then placing their hands in their mouth;
• having direct contact with another person who is infected and showing symptoms.

The preventative measures taken by Marietta College and Dining Services are the proper steps in the case of a Norovirus outbreak. In particular, the preventative steps taken by the College Physical Plant to disinfect high traffic areas is also an accepted method to help reduce the spread of a Norovirus. The Physical Plant staff began using a “hospital grade” disinfecting product on Saturday, Jan. 23, that is certified to kill the Norovirus and is safe to use in non-food service areas. Physical Plant staff will continue using this product for 30 days on high contact surfaces in restroom areas.

Marietta College’s Dining Services did reopen all satellite operations—Izzy’s, Chlapaty Café and Gilman Express—on Monday, Jan. 25. Gilman Dining Hall returned to its normal hours of operations as well.

The decision to reopen was made jointly by Marietta College, the Marietta City Health Department and Dining Services. As an additional safety measure, Dining Services will extend preventative protocols in place at Gilman Dining Hall this past week to its campus locations. For example, there will not be self-service coffee or muffins at Chlapaty.

All signs point toward a decline in campus illnesses, but the City Health Department and Marietta Memorial Hospital remind us of the very real potential for a second wave. Therefore, College officials want to encourage all students to frequently wash their hands to prevent the spread of any illness transmitted from person-to-person. The information contained in the Fact Sheet on the spread of bacteria distributed to students and employees remains a reliable guide to measures each of us can take to help ensure our own health. We would also call attention to the additional signs on campus reminding everyone to wash your hands.

If you are presenting any symptoms, please contact your Resident Director, or report to the Office of Student Life or the Campus Health Center. If you need emergency assistance we encourage you to go to Marietta Memorial Hospital.

We will update the campus community when additional information is available.’

~ Tom Perry, Director of College Relations